Ahead of Floyd Mayweather's super fight with Manny Pacquiao, casual fans may be studying up on what each fighter does best and where they struggle. For those without the time to watch full length fights, SWN will give them an easy to digest list of "Money" Mayweather's greatest strengths in the ring.
Left Shoulder
Mayweather's undefeated record is born of all his incredible skills, however his defense is the primary point of his excellence. Mayweather expertly employs the "shoulder-roll" defense, a style that when executed poorly can have disastrous results.
Mayweather's shoulder absorbs the brunt of his opponents' shots. They glance off it while keeping his face clean. He uses it like armor, then combines it with cat-quick reflexes that make his opponents appear to be fighting smoke. As time has gone on, he seems to have slowed just a bit, but that may have more to do with Marcos Maidana just being so on top of him that it was impossible to avoid being hit.
Against Canelo Alvarez Mayweather dominated with that shoulder, letting Alvarez's hardest shots miss while he ate hard right straights. Freddie Roach's task will be figuring out how to use Pacquiao's hand speed to overcome that vaunted shoulder.
Right Hand
Mayweather's most lethal offensive weapon is his right hand, which often shoots down the pipe and lands directly on his opponents' chin after they've unsuccessfully tried to hit him. Alvarez became well acquainted with that right hand, but he is far from the only one.
In Mayweather's earlier days when he tried harder to put together combinations and go for knockouts, he landed it with more force and was able to stop tough guys like Arturo Gatti. Sometimes Mayweather threw it with such mean intentions that he'd actually jump a bit to get more force behind it.
If Pacquiao is going to try and use a left-handed jab to get to Mayweather-and jabs are important vs. Money, just review his fight with Oscar De La Hoya, whose success was always behind the jab-then Floyd will have to pull back from it and unload the right from distance, which his long reach will help with.
Reach
Speaking of reach, Mayweather's is exceptional for a small fighter. Combined with his ability to dodge multiple punches, he can counter viciously from a distance. This will come in handy vs. Pacquiao, who will surely try to jab his way inside and land short, hard shots. Pacquiao is at a five-inch reach disadvantage vs. Mayweather, so keeping the fight at long range will be imperative for Money.
Mayweather used his reach well in his second fight vs. Marcos Maidana, when he was much more successful at keeping the bout in the center of the ring as opposed to Maidana bulling him onto the ropes and fighting in a phone booth while winging overhand rights at Mayweather's head.
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